Henry  Morehouse  Taber 
A  Memoir 


LAWRENCE  J.  GUTTER 

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Henry  Morehouse  Taber 
A  Memoir 


^'K.y^y 


Henry  Morehouse  Taber 
A   Memoir 


BY 

SYDNEY  RICHMOND  TABER 


TTOIJJ3  omaoj  gajflAH.)  ya 


MDCCCXCVni 

PRINTED  FOR  PRIVATE  CIRCULATION 
CHICAGO 


FROM     A     PORTRAIT     PAINTED 

BY  CHARLES   LORING    ELLIOTT 

IN    1  863 


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Henry  Morehouse  Taber 
A   Memoir 


BY 

SYDNEY  RICHMOND  TABER 


^ 


MDCCCXCVIII 

PRINTED  FOR  PRIVATE  CIRCULATION 
CHICAGO 


TO    HIS 

GRANDSON, 

WHOM    MY    FATHER    KNEW    AND    LOVED, 

AND    TO    HIS 

GRANDDAUGHTER, 

WHOM   DEATH   PREVENTED  HIM  FROM   KNOWING  AND  LOVING, 

THESE    PAGES    ARE    AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED 


HENRY    MOREHOUSE    TABER 

ALTHOUGH  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
passed  sixty-eight  out  of  the  seventy- 
'^  three  years  of  his  life  in  New  York  City 
and  was  closely  identified  with  its  business  and 
social  growth,  yet  his  New  England  birth  and 
inheritance  played  so  large  a  part  in  his  life  that 
attention  must  first  be  directed  to  his  ancestry. 

All  his  progenitors  for  two  centuries  had  been 
men  and  women  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut.  The  earliest  ancestor  in  Amer- 
ica in  the  Taber  line  was  Philip,  "one  of  several 
men  of  ability  who  have  borne  their  part  in  the 
great  charges  of  the  foundation"  of  Plymouth  Col- 
ony. He  came  to  America  in  1633,  took  the  oath 
of  freeman  and  became  one  of  the  representatives 
to  the  first  General  Court.  Another  of  the  Ply- 
mouth pioneers  from  whom  my  father  was  de- 
scended was  Kenelm  Winslow,  likewise  freeman 
and  representative,  and  brother  of  Edward  Wins- 
low,  who  was  one  of  the  Mayflower  passengers 
and  who  became  Governor  of  the  Colony.  Still 
9 


Henry    Morehouse  Taber 


another  ancestor,  Francis  Cooke,  was  also  one  of  the 
Mayflower  pilgrims  and  a  sturdy  and  prominent 
member  of  the  new  colony. 

In  my  father's  veins  also  flowed  the  blood  of 
a  soldier.  His  great-grandfather,  Levi  Taylor, 
served  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  and  was  at 
Crown  Point  under  General  Amherst  in  1759;  ^^^ 
later  became  lieutenant  of  a  company  in  a  Con- 
necticut regiment  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Among  others  of  his  ancestors  he  numbered  several 
selectmen,  town  clerks  and  surveyors  of  highways, 
and  still  others  filled  the  offices  of  assessor,  justice 
of  the  peace,  judge  of  the  Probate  Court  and  judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

The  family  of  his  mother,  Esther  Morehouse, 
had  had  their  home  in  Fairfield  county,  Connecti- 
cut, for  many  generations.  She  was  a  woman 
of  great  force  as  well  as  of  strong  affections.  Her 
erect  carriage,  which  was  maintained  almost  to 
the  day  of  her  death  at  the  age  of  ninety-six,  com- 
ported well  with  the  inflexibility  of  her  principles 
and  her  strength  of  character.  Her  husband, 
Corey  Taber,  was  born  in  Massachusetts.  Though 
likewise  somewhat  rigorous  in  the  training  of  his 
sons,  he  was  of  a  most  sociable  disposition  and 
genial  temperament. 

It  was  of  such  ancestry  and  of  such   parentage 


A  Memoir  ii 

that  Henry  Morehouse  Taber  was  born  on  8th  Feb- 
ruary, 1 825,  the  fifth  of  eight  children.  His  birth- 
place was  a  town  that  was  then  known  as  Saugatuck 
but  is  now  included  in  Westport,  Connecticut. 
Here  he  remained  only  about  five  years,  when  his 
father  removed  the  family  to  New  York  City.  His 
education  was  obtained  first  at  a  public  school  and 
later  at  the  private  school  of  Forrest  &  Mulligan, 
one  of  the  largest  and  best  in  the  city  at  that  time. 
With  a  view  to  inculcating  in  the  son  a  taste  for  the 
law,  his  father  placed  him  for  about  a  year  in  the 
law  ofiice  of  Ketchum  &  Fessenden.  Not  becom- 
ing enamoured  of  the  law,  however,  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  entered  into  business  in  which  he  remained 
more  or  less  actively  engaged  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death — a  period  of  fifty-seven  years.  His  first  busi- 
ness connection  was  that  of  clerk  in  the  office  of  his 
father,  who  was  engaged  in  the  cotton  brokerage 
business  at  76  Wall  street  under  the  firm-name  of 
Taber  &  Jenkins.  After  a  seven  years'  term  of 
service  as  clerk  to  the  firm  of  Bogert  &  Kneeland, 
he  returned  in  1848  to  the  office  of  Taber  &  Jen- 
kins. By  this  time  his  father  had  died,  and  his 
elder  brother  (Charles  Corey  Taber)  was  continuing 
the  business  with  Mr.  Jenkins.  In  the  following 
year  the  latter  died  while  his  partner  was  abroad, 
and  through  this  combination  of  circumstances  the 


12  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

whole  care  and  responsibility  of  this  considerable 
business  was  for  a  time  cast  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  brother  Henry,  when  he  was  but  twenty-four 
years  old.  This  experience,  entailing  hard  work 
and  long  hours,  no  doubt  did  much  to  develop  the 
self-reliance  and  capacity  for  responsibility  that  char- 
acterised his  later  career. 

In  1849  ^^^  ^^^  brothers  formed  a  partnership 
as  cotton  brokers  under  the  firm-name  of  Taber  & 
Co.,  but  within  two  years  business  disasters  over- 
took them  and  they  were  obliged  to  suspend  pay- 
ment. Having  effected  an  honourable  settlement 
with  their  creditors,  they  resumed  business  under  the 
same  firm-name  and  later  under  the  name  of  C.  C. 
&  H.  M.  Taber.  During  the  Civil  War  the  trans- 
actions of  the  firm  reached  a  considerable  magnitude, 
and  shortly  after  the  close  of  that  period  they 
estabhshed  branch  houses  or  agencies  at  New 
Orleans,  Memphis,  Mobile,  Providence,  Boston, 
and  Fall  River.  In  1871  another  firm  was 
formed  in  which  the  brother  Henry  was  a  special 
partner,  but  again  business  losses,  combined  with 
heavy  peculations  by  some  of  the  employees, 
forced  the  house  into  liquidation.  It  is  note- 
worthy, as  being  characteristic  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  that  every  debt  was  paid  in  full  although 
this  necessitated  the  payment  of  a  very  considerable 


A  Memoir  13 


sum  by  the  special  partner  above  the  amount  of 
his  limited  liability. 

In  1876  he  entered  into  a  new  partnership,  under 
the  name  of  Henry  M.  Taber  &  Co.,  with  his  son, 
William  Phillips  Taber,  whose  sympathetic  co-op- 
eration and  sound  judgment  he  found  helpful  and 
reliable.  This  partnership  continued  until  his  son's 
untimely  death  in  October,  1897, — less  than  two 
months  before  his  own,  which  occurred  on  the  24th 
of  December  following. 

In  addition  to  the  cotton  business  which  he  con- 
ducted under  the  foregoing  firm-names,  he  and  his 
brother  became  at  various  times  largely  interested 
in  real  estate,  both  in  New  York  City  and  Provi- 
dence. Among  other  properties  so  owned  was  the 
building  at  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  Beaver  streets, 
in  which  he  had  his  office  for  thirty-two  years,  and 
also  a  tract  of  land  at  Riverside  Drive  and  119th 
street,  which  was  sold  at  auction  in  the  spring  of 
1897.  This  sale  constituted  the  largest  real  estate 
transaction  in  New  York  City  for  that  year,  and  the 
extensive  preparations  for  it,  which  were  personally 
conducted  by  him  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years, 
furnished  a  striking  illustration  of  his  energy  and 
vitality. 

These  two  brothers  also  owned  and  operated 
various     steamers,    among     others    the    propeller 


14  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

"  Vicksburg  "  and  the  side-wheeler  "  City  of  Provi- 
dence." They  were  jointly  interested  in  the  Utica 
Cotton  Company  and  its  mill  at  Utica.  My  father 
was  president  of  that  company,  and  was  also  one  of 
two  lessees  of  a  large  cotton  mill  at  Baltic,  Connecti- 
cut. These  various  interests  involved  much  litiga- 
tion and  many  large  losses — some  of  the  latter 
being  caused  by  the  unforeseen  exigencies  of  busi- 
ness, but  others  resulting  from  embezzlement  by 
business  confidants. 

The  same  qualities  that  my  father  manifested  in 
his  private  business  made  him  much  sought  after 
in  corporate  business  enterprises.  A  man  of 
unswerving  rectitude  and  of  a  nice  sense  of  honour 
that  abhorred  the  suspicion  of  unfairness  could  not 
fail  to  be  in  demand  as  trustee.  Among  the  many 
institutions  in  which  he  held  positions  of  trust  may 
be  mentioned  the  Continental  National  Bank  and 
the  Manhattan  Savings  Institution.  In  each  of 
these  he  was]  one  of  the  directors  for  a  period  of 
about  thirty  years,  and  his  connection  with  the 
United  States  Lloyds — as  a  member  of  the  advisory 
committee — covered  the  same  period.  A  similar 
position  was  held  by  him  in  two  other  marine 
insurance  companies.  He  had  at  different  times 
been  a  director  in  six  fire  insurance  companies,  and 
at   the    time  of  his  death  was  serving  the  Home 


A  Memoir  15 


Insurance  Company  in  that  capacity,  having  been 
elected  in  1865.  He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  and 
trustees  of  the  Continental  Trust  Company.  His 
membership  in  the  New  York  Cotton  Exchange 
dated  from  its  organisation,  and  that  in  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  continued  for  thirty-eight  years.  In  the 
language  of  a  resolution  passed  shortly  after  his 
death  by  one  of  the  boards  of  which  he  had  been  a 
member — "the  many  directorships  and  positions 
of  honour  and  trust  held  by  him  in  other  institutions 
of  various  kinds  bear  further  testimony  to  the  high 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  community  at 
large,  and  serve  to  evidence  a  public  recognition  of 
the  exalted  integrity  of  purpose  and  practice  that 
animated  and  signalised  his  long  and  honourable 
career  as  a  merchant  and  citizen."  The  resolution 
further  records  "  the  bank's  gratitude  for  the  bene- 
fits thus  derived  from  Mr.  Taber's  long  connection 
with  it,  both  as  director  and  client — with  an  added 
record  of  the  deep  sense  of  loss  on  the  part  of  this 
board,  as  well  as  of  each  individual  member  thereof 
to  whom  he  had  endeared  himself  by  his  uniform 
kindness  and  the  genial  courtesy  that  characterised 
his  intercourse  with  all."  The  minutes  of  other 
institutions  speak  of  his  "  devotion  and  loyalty,"  his 
being  "  constant  and  faithful  to  his  duties  "  and  "his 
keen  business  instinct  and   unwavering  integrity." 


Henry  Morehouse  Taber 


He  was  further  recommended  to  his  business 
associates  by  his  zeal  and  energy.  Not  only  was  he 
impelled  to  a  course  of  action  by  high  principles,  but 
he  had  the  will  and  determination  to  maintain  it  and 
the  perseverance  to  follow  it  until  success  should  be 
achieved.  As  a  creditor  he  was  patient  and  liberal; 
as  a  debtor,  scrupulously  honest ;  and  as  an 
employer,  considerate  and  generous.  In  minor 
matters,  too,  his  characteristics  were  marked — pre- 
cision and  punctiliousness  in  small  as  well  as  large 
obligations,  and  promptitude  in  correspondence  and 
in  all  business  and  social  duties.  His  intensely 
systematic  habits  of  life  were  carried  into  his  busi- 
ness relations.  His  conservatism  with  respect  to 
personal  habits  was  evidenced  by  his  clinging  to  a 
custom  that  antedated  the  postal  delivery  system.  As 
long  as  he  lived  he  retained  a  letter-box  in  the  New 
York  post-office  and  was  in  the  habit  of  sending 
thither  for  his  mail  several  times  each  day.  Punc- 
tuahty  was  also  one  of  his  lesser  virtues;  it  is  probably 
within  bounds  to  say  that  during  his  long  career  he 
was  never  late  for  an  appointment. 

His  usefulness  as  trustee  was  not  confined  to 
institutions  of  business.  Charitable  enterprises  also 
profited  by  his  judgment,  sympathy  and  activity. 
He  was  a  life-member  of  the  Charity  Organization 
Society   of  New  York,  and  with  the  Northern  Dis- 


A  Memoir  17 


pensary  he  was  connected  for  over  twenty  years,  at 
first  as  director  and  later  as  president.  One  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  in  1868, 
he  served  on  its  Board  of  Managers  and  as  record- 
ing secretary  until  1884.  His  connection  with  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
as  treasurer  and  subsequently  as  president,  terminated 
in  1880  after  a  service  of  over  twenty  years. 

When  one  comes  to  speak  of  my  father  as  a 
public-spirited  citizen,  the  catalogue  of  his  services 
is  a  long  one.  Jury  duty  with  him  was  a  conscien- 
tious obligation  which  he  never  shirked.  He  served 
frequently  during  his  long  life,  and  in  1890  was 
foreman  of  the  grand  jury  that  investigated  the 
police  scandals  brought  to  light  by  the  Lexow  com- 
mission. For  many  years  he  was  connected  with 
almost  every  movement  of  citizens  directed  towards 
political  reform  or  patriotic  celebration.  In  1863 
he  was  one  of  a  committee  of  arrangements  for  a 
public  dinner  given  in  honour  of  the  admiral  of  the 
Russian  fleet ;  in  the  following  year  he  was  on  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Farragut  testimonial 
fund;  as  secretary  of  a  citizens'  committee  he  was 
active  in  arranging  for  the  Lincoln  memorial  cere- 
monies in  New  York,  and  one  of  a  similar  com- 
mittee to  tender  a  reception  to  General  Grant  at  the 
close  of  the   Civil  War.     In   1867   he  assisted  in 


1 8  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

organising  a  movement  to  present  General  Grant's 
name  for  the  Presidency  as  "  the  candidate  of  the 
commercial,  business  and  industrial  interests  of 
New  York,"  and  was  secretary  of  a  committee 
appointed  in  1874  to  oppose  the  inflation  of  the 
currency  and  to  present  to  the  President  a  peti- 
tion signed  by  twenty-five  hundred  bankers  and 
merchants  of  New  York. 

His  interest  in  politics  began  at  an  early  age. 
During  the  period  of  his  apprenticeship  in  the  law 
oflice  of  Ketchum  &  Fessenden,  Daniel  Webster, 
who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  one  of  the  partners, 
was  in  the  habit  of  calling  there  frequently.  An 
acquaintance  between  the  statesman  and  the  young 
law  student  thus  sprang  up  and  no  doubt  contributed 
much  to  inspire  the  latter  with  his  life-long  admira- 
tion for  eloquence  and  his  lofty  ideals  of  statesman- 
ship. When  only  fifteen  years  old  he  joined  the 
Boys'  Harrison  Association  and  attended  some 
political  meeting  every  evening  during  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of  1 840.  Again  in  1 844,  though 
still  not  old  enough  to  vote,  he  was,  as  he  afterward 
wrote,  "intensely  interested  in  the  campaign  of  that 
year,"  and  "went  home  with  a  sad  heart"  the  night 
he  heard  of  Clay's  defeat.  During  one  of  Mr. 
Clay's  visits  to  the  Astor  House  in  New  York,  my 
father,  though  a  mere  lad  and  without  other  intro- 


m 


FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH 
TAKEN   IN    I  895 


lb  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 


organising  a  movement  to  present  General  Grant's 
name  for  the  Presidency  as  "  the  candidate  of  the 
commerciul,  business  and  industrial  interests  of 
New  York,"  and  wa:.  %.rr»«?tary  of  a  committee 
appointed  in  1874  lo  i^ppotc  the  inflation  of  the 
currcfv.i,  md  fi  present  to  the  Prcsidenf  a  peti- 
tion jtigKtHj  bv  twenty -five  hundred  bankers  and 
merchants  of  New  York. 

His  interest  in  politics  began  at  an  early  age. 
During  the  period  of  his  apprenticeship  in  the  law 
office  of  Ketchum  &  Fessenden,  Daniel  Webster, 
who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  one  of  the  partners, 
was  in  ihv*  habit  of  caliiiOA^oblccHflt  a^mqp  <\t]v  An 
acquaintance  between  the  ^^A-. s¥  fu i*''a r .i  the  young 
law  student  thus  sprang  up  and  no  doubt  contributed 
much  to  inspire  the  latter  wirii  his  life-ltjng  admira- 
tion for  eloquence  and  his  lofty  ideals  of  statesman- 
ship. When  only  fifteen  years  old  he  joined  the 
Boys'  Harrison  Association  and  attended  some 
pohtical  meeting  every  evening  during  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of  1 840.  Again  in  1 844,  though 
still  not  old  enough  to  vote,  he  was,  as  he  afterward 
wrote,  '*  intensely  interested  in  the  campaign  of  that 
year,"  and  "went  home  with  a  sad  heart"  the  night 
he  heard  of  Clay's  defeat.  During  one  of  Mr. 
Clay's  visits  to  the  Astor  House  m  New  York,  my 
fath<rr,  though  a  mere  lad  and  without  other  intro- 


A  Memoir  19 


duction  than  his  ardent  admiration,  called  on  the 
statesman  and  was  received  with  characteristic 
cordiaHty.  His  sympathies  were  with  the  Whigs, 
largely  on  account  of  their  high-tariff  policy,  which 
always  remained  one  of  the  cardinal  principles  in  his 
political  creed ;  and  when  the  Republican  party 
came  into  existence,  it  found  in  him  a  ready  and 
warm  advocate.  In  1856  he  took  an  active  part  in 
the  campaign  for  the  election  of  General  Fremont. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  all  the  ardour 
of  his  enthusiastic  nature  was  aroused  in  behalf  of 
the  Union  cause.  His  anti-slavery  sentiment  was 
intense.  An  apparently  trivial  incident  of  that  time 
is  significant  of  his  feeling.  A  small  American 
flag,  discoloured  by  age,  was  found  hanging  in  his 
office  after  his  death.  It  had  been  placed  over  his 
desk  at  the  beginning  of  the  nation's  struggle  for 
existence — at  a  time  when  even  patriotic  men  were 
doubtful  of  the  righteousness  and  expediency  of  the 
struggle,  and  when  to  display  the  national  colours 
signified  much  courage  and  resolution.  He  joined 
the  22d  Regiment  of  the  New  York  State  Militia 
with  the  expectation  of  going  to  the  front,  but  the 
consideration  of  his  family's  dependence  upon  him 
and  the  force  of  their  persuasion  compelled  him  to 
resign.  He  gave,  however,  of  his  time  and  sub- 
stance to  the  Federal  cause;  scarcely  a  war  meeting 


20  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

was  held  in  New  York  in  the  arrangements  for  which 
he  was  not  active  ;  of  the  great  Sanitary  Fair  for  the 
benefit  of  Union  soldiers  he  was  among  the  pro- 
moters and  subscribers.  He  was  one  of  the 
organisers  of  the  Loyal  League  of  Union  Citizens, 
and  in  1862  joined  the  Union  League  Club,  the 
organisation  of  which  had  been  prompted  by  the 
same  patriotic  impulse.  During  the  entire  period  of 
the  war,  his  loyalty  and  devotion  were  unflagging. 
In  later  life  there  deepened  within  him,  under 
the  mellowing  influence  of  years,  a  conviction  of  the 
horrors  of  war.  Though  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  his  patriotism  would  again  have  asserted  itself 
in  promoting  a  conflict  of  arms  had  an  equally 
righteous  cause  arisen,  yet  war  was  abhorrent  to  his 
humane  nature  and  he  greatly  deprecated  the  spirit 
of  militarism  that  manifested  itself  in  our  own  land 
some  years  before  his  death.  He  conceived  that 
the  love  of  country  is  best  evinced  by  promotion  of 
the  arts  of  peace,  and  he  became  a  warm  advocate 
of  the  settlement  of  international  disputes  by  arbi- 
tration. For  principle  he  was  ever  ready,  to  fight, 
if  need  be;  but  the  kind  of  combat  that  most  met 
with  his  approval  was  a  battle  of  intellect.  Being  a 
lover  of  the  country's  flag,  he  never  failed  to  display 
it  from  his  house,  whether  in  town  or  in  the  country, 
on  every  occasion  of  patriotic  celebration. 


A  Memoir  21 


His  public  spirit  was  further  manifested  by 
encouragement  of  the  various  institutions  in  New 
York  that  stood  for  the  promotion  of  science  and 
art  and  the  advancement  of  knowledge.  He  became 
a  life  member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design 
in  the  days  of  its  infancy,  and  upon  his  death  its 
council  certified  to  their  "  appreciation  of  his  early 
encouragement  of  American  art."  He  also  held 
life-memberships  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art,  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  the 
American  Geographical  Society,  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  and  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History. 

An  evidence  of  his  progressiveness  as  well  as  of 
his  courage  was  afforded  by  his  warm  advocacy  of 
cremation  as  the  most  rational  method  of  disposing 
of  mortal  remains.  He  held  for  a  time  the  office 
of  president  of  the  New  York  Cremation  Society. 
Since  the  movement  commended  itself  to  his  reason 
as  being  in  accordance  with  correct  sanitary  princi- 
ples, and  to  his  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the 
living,  he  suffered  no  sentiment  or  conservatism  to 
oppose  his  adoption  of  it.  The  incineration  of  his 
own  body  took  place  in  compliance  with  his  repeated 
and  solemn  injunctions  to  his  family.  The  fact  that 
the  popular  mind  had  not  stamped  this  practice  with 
approval  rendered  it  all  the  more  his  duty,  as  he 


22  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

conceived  it,  to  commend  it  by  his  own  example  in 
death. 

A  firm  advocate  of  the  political  equality  of  the 
sexes  and  an  ardent  admirer  and  champion  of 
womanhood,  he  was  attracted  to  the  Nineteenth 
Century  Club  by  its  admission  of  women  as  well  as 
of  men  to  its  membership  and  to  its  discussions,  and 
he  gladly  enrolled  himself  a  member  of  that  organ- 
isation. Another  of  its  features  that  appealed  to 
him  was  its  tolerance  of  the  free  discussion  of  all 
subjects.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the 
New  England  Society  and  a  faithful  attendant  at 
each  recurring  banquet  of  the  society  on  "  Fore- 
fathers' day,"  where  he  keenly  enjoyed  renewing  the 
reminiscences  of  the  Pilgrims  and  their  achieve- 
ments. 

The  only  social  club  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected, besides  those  already  mentioned,  was  the 
Metropolitan  Club  of  New  York,  but  this  he  rarely 
visited — "  my  club-house  being  my  home,  in 
preference,"  as  he  explained  in  one  of  his  letters. 
The  same  sentiment  was  evidenced  by  the  legend 
"  There's  no  place  like  home,"  which  met  the  eye 
in  the  house  at  No.  42  West  Twelfth  street,  where 
his  last  thirty-seven  years,  embracing  the  greater 
part  of  an  exceptionally  happy  married  life,  were 
passed. 


A  Memoir  23 


On  October  3,  1855,  his  marriage  took  place 
with  Mary  Elizabeth,  second  daughter  of  Rev. 
William  Wirt  Phillips,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York.  Three  sons, 
of  whom  one  died  in  infancy,  and  a  daughter,  were 
born  to  them.  This  marriage  proved  to  be  a  rare 
union  of  two  deeply  affectionate  natures.  In  his 
wife,  my  father  found  a  noble  comrade,  worthy  of 
the  great  devotion  of  which  he  was  capable.  Upon 
her  and  upon  his  children  he  lavished  the  wealth  of 
his  loving  nature — tender,  unselfish,  indulgent. 

Child-life  appealed  particularly  to  him.  An 
incident  that  occurred  during  the  summer  of  1897 
was  strikingly  characteristic.  A  child  was  stolen 
from  its  home  in  Albany.  Though  the  bereaved 
parents  were  complete  strangers  to  him,  he  evinced 
the  deepest  interest,  communicating  to  the  public 
through  the  newspapers  and  offering  a  reward  for  the 
child's  return  ;  and  when  the  lost  was  finally  found, 
his  tears  of  joy  expressed  the  gladness  that  choked 
his  utterance. 

The  precepts  that  he  was  fond  of  instilling  into 
the  minds  of  his  young  children  indicate  some  of 
his  own  strongest  characteristics.  The  homely 
motto  "  Mind  your  own  business  "  was  the  forcible 
expression  of  his  horror  of  meddlesomeness.  He 
recognised  to  the  fullest  extent  the  right  of  liberty 


24  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

of  choice,  and  studiously  avoided  any  attempt  to 
control  even  his  own  children's  tastes  and  choices 
of  occupations.  His  habitual  cautiousness  was 
indicated  by  the  injunction  "  You  can't  be  too  care- 
ful;" "  A  place  for  everything  and  everything  in  its 
place "  expressed  his  own  methodical  habits,  and 
"  Work  first,  play  afterwards  "  was  used  to  impress 
on  childish  minds  the  stern  lesson  of  duty  and  self- 
control  which  he  himself  had  learned  so  well. 

He  possessed  a  kindliness  and  gentleness  that 
combined  rather  oddly  with  an  ardent  nature  and 
high  temper.  Towards  dumb  animals  he  was  ten- 
der-hearted, and  particularly  protested  against  the 
cruelty  of  vivisection.  All  forms  of  suffering  and 
want  appealed  to  him.  His  open-handed  generos- 
ity attracted  a  large  circle  of  needy  ones  to  whom 
lavish  assistance  was  given.  Those  who  had  suf- 
fered financial  reverses,  widows,  self-supporting 
women,  and  young  men  struggling  to  sustain  their 
families  were  among  the  special  objects  of  his  friend- 
liness. Besides  making  loans  and  gifts,  he  added 
to  the  cares  of  his  own  business  the  responsibility  of 
carrying  many  small  accounts  of  those  who  could 
not  have  obtained  elsewhere  so  generous  a  return 
for  their  slender  investments.  In  addition  to 
pecuniary  assistance,  he  was  constantly  making 
presents  to  persons  of  all  classes  with  whom  he  came 


A  Memoir  25 


in  contact.  With  generosity  he  combined  thought- 
fulness  and  foresight.  It  delighted  him  to  surprise 
a  friend  by  filling  some  need  or  by  gratifying  some 
half-expressed  wish.  He  was  especially  ready  to 
reward  attention  to  duty  and  deeds  of  heroism. 
His  life  was  really  a  long  career  of  helpfulness. 

My  father  was  an  energetic  traveller.  He 
delighted  in  visiting  distant  places,  observing  differ- 
ent conditions  and  acquiring  information  about  new 
lands  and  peoples;  and  he  did  in  fact  travel  far  and 
often.  An  enthusiastic  lover  of  the  sea,  he  was 
never  so  happy  as  when  sailing  over  its  waves  or 
swimming  in  the  surf  At  his  cottage  by  the  sea — 
"Liberty  Hall"  he  was  fond  of  styling  it,  for  each 
guest  was  enjoined  to  follow  absolutely  his  own 
inclinations — his  instinct  of  hospitality  was  con- 
stantly gratified.  In  his  town-house,  too,  his  friends 
and  their  friends  were  always  cordially  welcomed, 
but  at  the  seashore  more  could  be  and  were  accom- 
modated; his  pleasure  grew  with  the  possibility  of 
keeping  "  open  house"  and  was  considerably  en- 
hanced if  the  guest  was  one  to  whom  such  an  outing 
was  a  rarity.  While  he  delighted  in  entertaining, 
the  simplicity  of  his  own  tastes  characterised  his 
household.  Comfort  and  abundance  without  osten- 
tation were  its  watchwords. 

Good-fellowship  and  a  keen  enjoyment  of  social 


26  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

life  were  part  of  his  nature,  and  his  joviaHty  was 
only  overshadowed  occasionally  by  bereavement  or 
depression  caused  by  heavy  business  responsibilities. 
His  buoyancy  of  spirit,  which  must  in  part  be  attri- 
buted to  his  extraordinary  physical  constitution, 
persisted  wonderfully,  even  in  the  face  of  his  last 
and  wearisome  illness. 

With  all  his  light-heartedness,  my  father  was 
peculiarly  serious-minded.  All  his  life  he  had  mani- 
fested a  deep  interest  in  the  mysteries  of  life  and 
death,  and  as  old  age  approached,  increasing  leisure 
gave  him  opportunity  for  thought  and  for  the  wide 
reading  of  philosophical  and  religious  works. 

From  his  New  England  ancestors — those  "im- 
passioned seekers  after  the  invisible  truth" — he 
inherited  not  only  a  keen  interest  in  such  search,  but 
their  own  zeal  in  the  conduct  of  it.  The  first  of 
his  name  to  come  to  America,  Philip  Taber,  was 
conspicuous  as  a  Baptist.  He  associated  himself 
with  Roger  Williams  and  was  one  of  those  who 
removed  to  Rhode  Island  on  account  of  their  non- 
conformity to  the  prevalent  faith  in  Massachusetts 
and  of  the  consequent  intolerance  in  that  common- 
wealth. Another  ancestor.  Rev.  John  Lothrop — 
a  graduate  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  and  a 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England — renounced 
his  orders   in    1623    and   became  an    independent 


A  Memoir  27 


preacher.  On  being  released  from  his  consequent 
imprisonment  at  Newgate  he  migrated  to  New  Eng- 
land ;  but  even  there  his'  independence  of  thought 
proved  a  stumbling-block  to  his  congregation,  with 
whom  he  differed  on  the  subject  of  baptism.  Fran- 
cis Cooke,  already  referred  to,  one  of  the  exiles 
from  Scrooby,  had  fled  with  Bradford  to  Leyden, 
in  order  to  worship  there  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  conscience,  before  embarking  in  the 
Mayflower  for  the  haven  of  rest  in  America.  Still 
another  of  my  father's  ancestors,  Kenelm  Winslow, 
likewise  paid  the  penalty  for  religious  differences  by 
being  twice  imprisoned  in  England  before  coming 
to  these  shores. 

His  earliest  American  ancestor  in  the  Foster  line 
(Thomas)  was  repeatedly  called  before  the  Middle- 
sex County  Court  and  punished  for  breach  of  ecclesi- 
astical laws.  The  grand  jury  found  him  guilty  of 
"  absenting  himself  from  the  public  ordinances  of 
Christ  on  the  Lord's  day  and  on  days  of  humilia- 
tion and  thanksgiving,"  and  it  is  further  recorded 
that  he  was  "convicted  of  constant  and  ordinary 
frequenting  the  meeting  of  the  Anabaptists  on  the 
Lord's  day  "  and  was  "sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of 
jf  5  and  costs."  The  descendants  of  the  latter  for 
three  successive  generations  somewhat  atoned  for 
their   forefather's  heresy  by  serving  the   orthodox 


Henry  Morehouse  Taber 


church  in  the  capacity  of  deacon.  But  in  the  fourth 
generation,  James  Foster,  after  some  years  of  such 
service,  was  converted  to  Universalism,  and  his  life 
was  thereafter  rendered  unhappy  by  the  opposition 
of  his  orthodox  neighbours. 

On  his  mother's  side,  my  father's  grandparents 
Stephen  and  Esther  Morehouse  were  members  of 
the  Congregational  Church.  The  ancestors  of  this 
grandfather  were  generally  of  the  Presbyterian 
faith  and  conservative  in  their  religious  views.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  family  of  the  grandmother  (of 
the  surname  Taylor)  were  characterised  by  independ- 
ence of  thought  and  fondness  for  argument  and  origi- 
nal investigation.  A  letter  is  still  preserved  that 
was  written  by  Lieutenant  Levi  Taylor,  above  men- 
tioned, which  sets  forth  his  views  on  the  subject  of 
predestination. 

My  father's  father  was  not  a  church-member, 
but  his  mother  was  a  member  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church — a  woman  of  strong  will  and  of  deep  relig- 
ious faith,  conscientiously  rigorous  in  her  self-abne- 
gation and  in  the  training  of  her  children.  She 
imparted  some  of  her  own  earnestness  to  her  son 
Henry,  though  in  his  case  it  was  differently  mani- 
fested. The  rather  sombre  religious  atmosphere  of 
his  youth  was  not  congenial  to  his  intense  enjoy- 
ment of  life.      No  more  did  the  enforced  attendance 


A  Memoir  29 


at  religious  services  and  the  compulsory  observance 
of  Sunday  harmonise  with  his  love  of  personal 
liberty. 

So  it  seems  that  his  independence  of  thought  in 
religious  matters  was  the  heritage  from  some  of  his 
ancestors  of  a  tendency  to  break  away  from  previous 
traditional  forms  of  faith,  combined  with  strong 
convictions  and  great  earnestness  transmitted  from 
them  all.  As  his  English  ancestors  had  been 
Protestants  against  the  domination  of  Rome,  and 
those  of  New  England  were  Protestants  against  the 
Episcopal  hierarchy,  so  he  in  turn  became  a  latter- 
day  protestant — against  all  forms  of  ecclesiasticism. 
A  new  Puritan  was  he,  having  inherited  the  temper 
but  not  the  theology  of  Puritanism. 

Upon  one  thus  already  out  of  sympathy  with 
institutional  Christianity,  conspicuous  discrepan- 
cies between  the  professions  and  the  conduct  of 
church  members  could  not  fail  to  make  a  deep 
impression.  The  experience  of  suffering  large 
financial  losses  through  the  misconduct  of  several 
persons  holding  high  offices  in  Christian  churches 
came  as  a  shock  to  a  man  of  uncompromising 
integrity  and  resulted  in  increasing  his  hatred  of 
religious  hypocrisy  and  in  perpetuating  his  doubt 
as  to  the  efficacy  of  religious  faith  to  control  human 
conduct. 


30  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

In  the  history  of  the  church  there  was  found 
much  to  offend  one  who  was  conspicuous  on  the  one 
hand  for  his  humane  feelings  and  on  the  other  for 
reverence  for  the  "  precious  right  of  freedom."  The 
barbarities  and  oppression  practised  in  the  name  of 
Christianity  were  also  revolting  to  another  of  his 
noteworthy  traits :  in  a  man  lacking  his  keen  sense 
of  justice  they  would  have  been  productive  of  only 
pity  and  regret,  but  in  him  they  excited  intense 
indignation. 

As  to  the  modern  church,  he  conceived  of  dog- 
matism as  exercising  a  thraldom  over  the  minds  of 
men  from  which  it  was  the  part  of  true  philanthropy 
to  emancipate  them.  He  felt  keenly  what  Matthew 
Arnold  has  called  "the  desire  for  removing  human 
error."  With  him  reason  was  the  ultimate  and  the 
only  criterion  of  creeds.  There  was  nothing  in  his 
education  and  training  to  develop  those  qualities  of 
the  imagination  to  which  religion  makes  its  most 
potent  appeal.  On  the  contrary  there  was  much  in 
his  antecedents  and  in  the  circumstances  of  his  boy- 
hood to  suppress  such  development.  Moreover, 
his  attention  was  increasingly  directed  to  religious 
matters  during  a  period  of  widespread  questionings 
and  unrest  and  change  in  the  world  of  religious 
thought.  His  eager  thirst  for  knowledge  cordially 
welcomed  the  results  of  modern  scientific  research. 


A  Memoir  31 


and  his  habit  of  mind — demanding  precision,  exact- 
ness, certainty — found  much  that  was  congenial  in 
the  definite  demonstrations  of  science.  With  respect 
to  matters  of  religion  there  was  none  of  the  con- 
servatism that  marked  his  habits  of  daily  life.  In 
these  matters  he  was  a  radical,  impatient  of  the  pace 
at  which  religious  thought  was  moving  away  from 
traditional  forms  of  faith.  Not  being  susceptible  to 
the  charm  of  antiquity  or  the  glamour  of  tradition, 
he  was  ever  ready,  if  progress  required  it,  to  break 
with  the  past. 

To  a  literalist  like  himself,  religious  tenets  could 
have  none  but  a  literal  interpretation,  and,  bereft  of 
that,  they  were  deprived  of  all  significance  whatever. 
A  modern  writer,  in  classifying  the  "  forms  pertain- 
ing to  the  Christian  truths,"  declares  that  "  they  are 
true  as  spiritual  experiences  to  be  realised."  It  was 
my  father's  incapacity  for  spiritual  experiences  that 
prevented  him  from  thus  realising  the  truths  of 
Christianity.  The  "  Vision  of  God"  such  as  Dante 
saw  was  not  possible  to  him.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Inferno  could  never  be  conceived  of  as  a  spiritual 
realm  that  a  soul  persisting  in  sin  creates  for  itself; 
and  the  Immaculate  Conception  became  an  unproven 
allegation  of  fact  and  failed  to  signify  to  him  the 
ideal  purity  and  nobility  of  womanhood.  Impossible 
of  attainment  by  him  was  the  attitude  of  Tennyson: 


32  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

"  Spirit  seems  to  me  to  be  the  reality  of  the  world. 
I  feel  and  know  the  flesh  to  be  the  vision ;  God  and 
the  spiritual  the  only  real  and  true." 

Nature  had  withheld  from  my  father  one  of  the 
most  potent  aids  to  the  imagination  by  omitting 
from  his  equipment  an  ear  for  music.  His  lack  in 
this  respect  was  complete ;  diflFerent  tunes  were  to 
him  utterly  indistinguishable.  Thus  was  this 
entrance  into  the  great  realm  of  fancy  and  subli- 
mated feeling  completely  sealed  to  him.  He  was 
not  among  those  who  are  carried  on 

The  tides  of  music's  golden  sea. 
Setting  towards  Eternity. 

The  kinship  of  music  and  poetry,  through  the  con- 
necting link  of  rhythm,  is  as  subtle  but  as  real  as 
the  translation  of  poetry  into  sculpture  and  painting 
and  architecture.  How  far  the  dearth  of  artistic 
perceptions  in  my  father's  nature  is  traceable  to  his 
lack  of  the  feeling  for  music,  would  be  a  matter  of 
indeterminable  speculation ;  but  certain  it  is  that  his 
temperament  was  no  more  able  to  bring  to  the  con- 
templation of  religious  questions  a  feeling  for  art 
than  his  education  enabled  him  to  interpret  them  by 
the  aid  of  mature  scholarship.  While  other  minds 
found  a  mystical  or  aesthetic  significance  even  in 
doctrines  the  strict  interpretation  of  which  they  had 


A  Memoir  ^j 


discarded,  the  necessities  of  his  conscientiousness 
not  only  would  not  tolerate  the  retention  of  anything 
that  actually  conflicted  with  reason,  but  forced  him 
to  abandon  everything  that  was  not  capable  of  being 
apprehended  by  the  reasoning  faculties  alone. 

Thus  what  may  be  called  spiritual  colour-blind- 
ness, deficiency  in  the  sense  of  beauty,  sincerity  which 
prevented  him  from  assuming  an  aesthetic  appre- 
ciation that  he  could  not  feel,  and  a  vehemence  that 
characterised  everything  he  did,  combined  to  produce 
in  him  a  staunch  opponent  of  dogmatic  theology. 
His  religious  attitude  was  indicated  by  his  member- 
ship in  the  Manhattan  Liberal  Club  and  the  Society 
for  Ethical  Culture. 

Although  generally  very  reticent  and  while 
fearful  of  wounding  the  religious  sensibilities  of 
others,  he  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions  and 
was  always  ready  to  express  his  views  either  in  con- 
versation or  by  means  of  his  pen.  A  number  of 
articles  contributed  at  diflferent  times  to  one  of  the 
liberal  magazines  were  collected  and  published  in 
book-form  a  few  months  before  his  death.  To  say 
that  in  these  writings  he  manifested  an  incapacity  to 
enter  fully  into  doctrines  with  which  he  did  not 
sympathise  would  only  be  to  say  that  he  lacked  one 
of  the  rarest  of  human  gifts  and  would  in  no  wise 
disparage    his    honesty.      If  he   was  incapable    of 


34  Henry  Morehouse  Taber 

judicial  impartiality,  he  was  equally  incapable  of 
untruth. 

He  was  a  warm  advocate  of  the  complete  sepa- 
ration of  church  and  state,  and  the  papers  referred 
to  are  largely  concerned  with  the  discussion  of  that 
topic.  He  believed  that  there  was  no  constitutional 
warrant  for  the  enforcement  of  Sunday  laws ;  he 
favoured  non-sectarian  public  schools  and  the  dis- 
continuance of  the  office  of  chaplain  in  Congress,  in 
prisons  and  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  protested 
against  the  exemption  of  church  property  from  tax- 
ation ;  all  of  which,  he  contended,  "  are  questions 
involving  the  principle  of  equal  rights  and  exact 
justice  to  every  citizen." 

He  was  careful  to  point  out  repeatedly  that  he 
spoke  not  "  with  any  disrespect  for  the  character  of 
Christ;"  that  he  yielded  "to  no  one  in  admiration 
of  the  lofty  purposes  which  were  the  guiding  prin- 
ciples of  his  pure  and  gentle  and  altruistic  life,"  and 
that  he  had  no  criticism  to  make  of  "  the  true 
followers  of  Christ."  The  Christianity  that  was  the 
subject  of  his  rebuke  was  not  the  "  sympathetic, 
tolerant,  humane,  loving  religion  of  Christ,"  nor  yet 
"primitive  Christianity,"  but  the  "collection  of 
doctrines  enunciated  "  and  "  remodelled  from  time 
to  time"  by  man.  His  religious  ideal  was  expressed 


A  Memoir  35 


by  his  quotation  from  "Akbar's  Dream,"    which 
Tennyson  describes  in  these  lines: 

I  dream' d 
That  stone  by  stone  I  rear'd  a  sacred  fane, 
A  temple,  neither  Pagod,  Mosque  nor  Church, 
But  loftier,  simpler,  always  open-door' d 
To  every  breath  from  Heaven,  and  Truth  and  Peace 
And  Love  and  Justice  came  and  dw^elt  therein. 

It  has  been  said  that  Philosophy  aims  for  the 
True,  Religion  aims  for  the  Good,  and  Art  aims  for 
the  Beautiful.  The  subject  of  this  memoir  spent  a 
long  life  in  the  ardent  pursuit  of  the  True  and  the 
Good  ;  and  if  in  his  quest  he  accepted  not  the  aid  of 
Art,  it  was  only  because  it  had  not  been  given  him 
to  see  clearly  the  vision  of  the  Beautiful. 


PRINTED  BY  R.  R.  DONNELLEY 
AND  SONS  COMPANY  AT  THE 
LAKESIDE  PRESS,  CHICAGO,  ILL., 
UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 
HERBERT  S.  STONE  &  COMPANY 


